Global Courant 2023-04-30 22:54:39
The City striker becomes the first player in top-flight English football to score 50 goals in all competitions since 1931.
Manchester City have risen to the top of the Premier League as Erling Haaland shattered a 92-year milestone while Julian Alvarez scored a stunner to secure a 2-1 win at Fulham.
Norwegian striker Haaland converted a third-minute penalty at Craven Cottage on Sunday to become the first player in top-flight English football to score 50 goals in all competitions since 1931.
“Before Winston Churchill was prime minister? Wow. Sounds like a long time ago. Congratulations Erling. The best aim to help us achieve what we want is still there,” said City boss Pep Guardiola.
Haaland also moved level with Alan Shearer and Andy Cole’s record total for a single season in the Premier League.
Shearer scored 34 for Blackburn Rovers in 1995 and Cole scored the same number for Newcastle United in 1994.
However, the Norwegian’s success rate dwarfs even his acclaimed predecessors, who played in the era of 42-game seasons.
Shearer started all 42 games of the 1994-95 season as he propelled Blackburn to the title, while Cole made 40 appearances for Newcastle last year.
Haaland needed just 30 games to score 34 goals, having already raced past Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah to set a new record for a 38-game season.
“If you built a centre-forward from the ground up, there would be Erling,” Shearer told The Athletic.
“He is a goalscoring machine, someone who is quick and direct, physically strong and good in the air, who can score with both feet and whose positioning is fantastic.”
Manchester City come closer to matching Manchester United’s historic treble of 1998-99.
City are now at the top of the Premier League for the first time in 10 weeks, having won their last eight league games and are unbeaten in their last 18 games in all competitions.
The English champion will face Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League and Manchester United in the FA Cup final on June 3.
Guardiola’s red-hot squad, with one game left against Arsenal, must win five of their last six games to secure a fifth title in six seasons.
Arsenal, winless in their last four games, will host Chelsea on Tuesday, and City at home to West Ham on Wednesday.
